


A Prayer in Perfect Piety

by yellowbound



Category: Star Trek: Discovery
Genre: Canon Compliant, Established Relationship, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Kissing, making fun of spock, most of this is post-disco season 2, spock being helpful
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-08
Updated: 2019-05-08
Packaged: 2020-02-28 06:38:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,880
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18751030
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yellowbound/pseuds/yellowbound
Summary: Twenty times Una and Chris share kisses.





	A Prayer in Perfect Piety

**Author's Note:**

> This is a list of kissing prompts I got from tumblr. I decided to do all of them.
> 
> Not in chronological order.
> 
> Yes, I used the Hozier lyric fic title generator. No, I am not sorry.
> 
> I apparently cannot write short fics at the moment, so here is nearly 6,000 words of these two kissing.

1\. First kiss

Una still couldn’t believe she wasn’t the one to kiss him first. She had certainly been thinking about kissing him for awhile, but there always seemed to be some reason not to, and to her eternal shame she had let that _matter_. Of course it would be Chris, who was so good at seeing what really mattered and what didn’t (at seeing which orders to ignore and which ones you really never, ever should), who simply let all of that go, and kissed her because he wanted to. The only thing he made sure of first, absolutely sure, was that she wanted to kiss him as badly as he wanted to kiss her.

2\. Painful kiss

Una planted a kiss over Chris’s split lip, caused by a stray elbow during the fight, who’s she didn’t know. She would have hunted them down if she did, so it was probably better for everyone involved that the person remained anonymous.

Instead, her attention was where it should be: on her captain, his sharp intake of breath letting her know that it hurt. He would soon be heading to sickbay to get the injury taken care of, but there were plenty of casualties and the medical personal had their hands full. If Pike walked in there now he would draw unnecessary attention away from those with more serious injuries, and that he would not do.

Una was sorry for all the people that got hurt, but she wasn’t sorry for this result: a hurt Chris who let her wash the blood out of his hair, and clean the bits of debris from his skin. He let the attention sooth him, and she let his gradual relaxation sooth her.

3\. Sad kiss

Lying to Starfleet had been the easy part.

The funerals that were lies were much harder.

There was no official record any of these people had ever existed. But that didn’t mean they were forgotten by their loved ones. The shrine on Vulcan might not have Michael’s name on it, but it was definitely Michael’s. Even if the people who dedicated it and tended it knew she hadn’t died, but might even be able to see it nearly a thousand years in the future.

As Chris had pointed out to her, Michael hadn’t died, but she had died to them, and it was important for their own sanity that they honor and remember her, and leave her a message of hope, if she ever have need of it.

Una had kissed him then, briefly, then let her forehead rest against his, breathing in one another’s space. What happened on Discovery had affected him in ways she didn’t yet understand, and it bothered her that she had the sneaking suspicion that she never would. She had even asked Chris that, or some version of that, but all he had said was, “You will,” and then looked so incredibly sad about it that she didn’t press the issue. _You’re going to find out, and you’re not going to like it, and I can’t protect you from that_ had been too much to take, from Christopher Pike, and so she had done what she rarely did when faced with anything, and retreated.

But she still tried to help him, and understanding her need he let her, up to and including allowing her to accompany him on his trip to Vulcan, to see a shrine that wasn’t supposed to exist to a person that never had but maybe one day would.

4\. Desperate kiss

Nothing in her life had prepared her for this: the feeling of almost losing the person who mattered the most, of almost being forced to watch them die, only to then have them escape, to have helped them, to have them return, shaken but alive, the only thing that really mattered in that moment.

She had been taught to always be the best, that it was always in her reach, and she had validated that faith, again and again. But this-

He held her close, he held her tightly in a way he often didn’t. While he enjoyed showering her with affection, he never wanted to trap her, or make her feel tied down. No, that was not his purpose in life, not for her or anyone. So when he clung to her now it was to give her the support she needed, as she kissed him, running her hands along his face, through his hair. She needed that strong grip more than the kiss, and she never wanted to stop kissing him.

5\. Comfortable kiss

Finally, Starfleet had agreed to let them go. After two major disasters befalling Enterprise in such a short space of time, Starfleet demanded that the newly-refit ship (twice over) stay within or near Federation space, to make sure the ship and her crew were functioning properly. And it certainly made sense – the last thing anyone wanted on a deep space voyage that lasted years were mechanical or emotional problems that should have been worked out before the mission began.

She could tell by the look on his face what the news was as he read his orders, so she just walked up and kissed him, draping her arms around his shoulders as he wrapped an arm around her waist.

“They’re finally letting us go,” he said, laughing into her kiss.

6\. Tipsy kiss

It was only a few sips into her drink that she realized whatever was in it worked like alcohol. They were at a gathering of the N’tith, who were welcoming their ‘new alien friends’ with a friendly reception that included a lot of drinking and eating and naked sports. Pike had come over to her on occasion mumbling things about ‘ancient Greeks’ and, with a gleam in his eye, ‘maybe we can join in’, and, with a wicked gleam, ‘maybe _Spock_ can join in’, and she had fisted the front of his dress shirt, drawing him close, planting a kiss on his lips. He had blinked at her in surprise, but he wasn’t upset, the only other person her from Enterprise being Spock (the N’tith were eager to welcome their ‘new alien friends’ but no more than three at a time) and of course Spock already knew. The N’tith did not react to their interactions, they just kept the drink and food and naked sports plentiful.

She asked him later how he pictured any naked athletic competition between the two of them going, and he had said, “you first,” to which she had absolutely refused, so he had told her.

She was never going to forget that particular fantasy.

7\. Laughing kiss

“We’re not in a hurry,” she said as she laughed into his mouth, repeating his words from earlier. “The shuttle isn’t going anywhere.”

He moved his mouth to her neck, planting kisses, his laughter washing over her and settling somewhere deep. She couldn’t keep the smile from her face as she brought his lips back to hers.

“I’ve never seen flying like that,” she mumbled into his mouth. She was so delighted, and he was delighted that she was delighted, and also he knew that had been some excellent flying.

Throughout their careers they had had many opportunities to fly together, some legitimate missions and others more ‘here I found this new contraption Starfleet is building and ‘barrowed’ it would you like to go for a spin with me?’ type endeavors.

But she had never had quite such an experience with him.

They were on the outskirts of Federation space – not too far, Starfleet wouldn’t let them go too far, not yet – helping another Starship retrieve a lost shuttle from a planet with such intense interference emanating from its atmosphere that things like transports and communications didn’t work. Once they entered the atmosphere, they were on their own until they got to the shuttle. The same intense interference was also going to negatively impact their ability to fly, scrambling instruments and destabilizing their ship.

The mission was simple: get down in one piece, hook up the crashed shuttle, and return in one piece.

Under normal conditions they would leave the shuttle but unfortunately it was on a planet with a pre-warp society that they didn’t want to influence.

It was the flying that was complicated. So complicated, in fact, that Chris picked his best pilots (himself and his first officer) as well as his science officer, who knew more than a little about how to handle interference, to fly this mission. Chris would be at the main controls, with Spock and Una given the twin jobs of keeping the shuttle stable and oriented correctly. They had the data from the crashed shuttle, helping them with their flight.

Quickly, Una had realized how difficult this task was going to be, as they hit turbulence and the three of them were seemingly at war with the entire atmosphere. It wasn’t the best type of war to be in, because the atmosphere didn’t care if it won and had no obvious weakness to exploit.

After a little while the shaking started to lessen. They were getting the hang of this. She had been intensely focused on her own instruments for awhile, but now she could pay more attention to what her captain and Spock were doing.

Spock was doing the same thing she was: sharply focused on maintaining shuttle stability.

Chris, however, didn’t seem to be doing much flying. His hands were barely moving along the controls. Just a little nudge here, a slight adjustment there.

“What are you doing?” she asked him.

He had smiled. “Gliding.”

“Captain?” that had been Spock, confused.

“Let’s see where the atmosphere takes us,” Chris had said.

Una and Spock exchanged a look. “It might not take us anywhere near the shuttle.”

“The interference doesn’t go all the way to the surface. Once we’re out of it, we can fly to the shuttle then.” He had smiled that disarming smile of his at his two officers. “We’re not in any hurry. The shuttle isn’t going anywhere.”

Spock and Una had exchanged another look – Spock actually sort of looked like he was smiling, Una wasn’t sure what expression was on her face, she could only image it must be even more fond than the Vulcan’s – and turned back to their controls.

That solution was so completely _Chris_ – there was no reason to fight it, so why not let it do what it wanted? He had no need to control and direct everything around him. Maybe it would take them somewhere interesting along the way.

And it had – of course, by allowing the shuttle to move along with the ebbs and flows of the atmosphere, they had ended up no where near the shuttle, but they had ended up near some of the most stunning scenery Una had ever seen, not far from the one place where the atmosphere did touch the surface – in fact, it became clear that all the interference in the atmosphere was coming from minerals deep within the planet’s core. They never would’ve figured that out, otherwise, because the minerals played havoc with sensors.

Kissing him after, knowing this is why they did what they did, to discover something like that, to fly and see things no one ever had before – neither of them could stop smiling, neither of them could stop their delight from bubbling over into laughter while they kissed and touched one another. 

8\. In the dark kiss

He knew where she was. He didn’t have to bother to turn on the lights. He moved through her quarters, shedding clothes as he went, pausing next to her bed to pick up her hand and kiss it, before heading to the bathroom to finished getting ready for bed. Una pulled the hand he had kissed close, feeling his absence, wanting, knowing he would be back in a moment.

9\. ‘We might die tomorrow’ kiss

Every time she kissed him, she knew it could be the last time. They lived in a space ship, with far too little protecting them from a vacuum that would kill them instantly. Because that wasn’t enough, they often spent their time in that ship in the vacuum nowhere near anyone who could help them, nowhere near anything familiar. That was the point – they were supposed to explore unknown territory. Their mission significantly increased their chance of dying.

She didn’t think about it. If she was the kind of person who did, she wouldn’t be here. But she knew that every kiss could be their last.

Her only wish, for both of them, was that neither would have to watch the other die. That neither would ever have to know which kiss had been their last.

10\. ‘You nearly died’ kiss

Chris’s hands were shaking as they moved over her. She didn’t like it. She grabbed his face with both hands, kissing him. “Chris, I’m fine.”

“Um,” he said, a stand in for _I’m not_. His blue eyes were locked on hers, drinking her in, greedy. She ran her thumbs along his cheeks, caressing. She moved in to plant a kiss on the corner of his mouth, on his cheek, on his eyebrow.

Eventually, he stopped shaking. It took awhile.

11\. ‘We’re actually being kind of silly for once’ kiss

“This really isn’t necessary,” said Spock, as Una pressed a kiss to his check.

“Yes, it is,” said Pike, pressing a kiss to his other cheek. Pike took Spock’s hand. “They’ll think we’re enemies of we don’t,” he said, smiling at his science officer.

Spock looked from his captain’s smile to the ‘they’: a species of interconnected beings who functioned in groups, and who could not understand why Federation species did not.

Spock looked down at his captain’s hand in his own. “I don’t think the kissing is necessary.”

Pike’s smile widened. “Yes, it is,” he said, taking Una’s hand, and kissing the back of it.

Spock sighed.

12\. A kiss that shouldn’t have happened

Una’s eyes went wide with shock when she saw her newest incoming messages.

One was from Chris. He shouldn’t have been able to send her messages.

He had been on Talos IV for a year. Una didn’t liked to think about the fact that she knew exactly how long he had been there.

His promotion to Fleet Captain and hers to Captain split them up, creating physical distance they weren’t used to, but they had still been in constant communication, sharing with one another what went on, like they always had.

Until the accident had essentially rendered him unable to communicate.

She had gone to see him immediately after, and it had been a shock for her. To see him like that, and to have absolutely no idea how to help him. She was one of the people he had listed who had authority to make medical decisions for him should the need ever arise. She still remembered him asking if it was okay for him to do that, and she had been confused at the time for why it would be. But now she knew, not only about the accident, but also about the fact that he had known it was going to happen for some time.

Once she had returned to her ship she had received constant updates on his medical treatments, which consisted of far more failures than successes (not entirely, though, they were gradually able to make him more comfortable). She had still sent her normal messages to him, which he could have played for him at his request.

After he had gone to Talos, even the regular updates on his medical condition had stopped. There was a profound absence, an utter silence, in her life that even physical distance hadn’t been able to create previously.

She pressed play on the message. It was voice only. She felt like crying as his warm voice filled the room, greeting her, then immediately saying that she was probably wondering how he was able to contact her. Chris went on to describe his work with the Talosians – of course, he wouldn’t head to a nuclear wasteland with a fragment of a population and decide that’s it, he’s just going to live in a fantasy world forever. They had developed a device that allowed Chris to record his thoughts. He knew it sounded weird, he was working with the Talosians to try and get them to understand what other species tended to find acceptable and what they didn’t. If they couldn’t learn goodness and decency from Christopher Pike, they weren’t going to learn it from anyone. He invited her for a visit, stressing that she was under no obligation to accept.

That explained the other message she had gotten, an encrypted and classified one from Starfleet, giving her permission to go.

*

“Una.” Chris’s voice came from the space in the shuttle behind her. She turned hurriedly away from the controls, to see him walking out of the shadows toward her, a huge grin on his face. She rushed towards him, enveloping him in a hug. She didn’t want to let go.

Eventually, the shuttle’s controls starting beeping, demanding her attention. Chris slid into the pilot’s seat next to her, flying with her one last time as they guided the shuttle down to the surface of Talos IV.

If she kept thinking like that, she wasn’t going to be able to handle this visit.

As much time as she spent with Chris, she also found herself talking a lot with Vina. Vina was a bridge between the Talosians and Chris, and also her presence meant that Chris wasn’t here alone.

When it was time for her to leave, it was just her and Chris in the shuttle. Una honestly didn’t know how to do this. Chris’s hands and mouth moved over her, comforting, caressing, kissing away her tears.

She wasn’t losing him – she had, in fact, just gotten him back. But the full weight of all that had happened was finally hitting her. Chris was the adaptable one, working to fit into any situation. He could handle this too, with the same compassion and dignity he always had. It just hurt that he had to.

13\. A kiss we had to wait for

Water droplets floated this way and that in front of her face.

It would be beautiful – it _was_ beautiful – but it shouldn’t be happening at all.

The artificial gravity shouldn’t have been off.

Water shouldn’t have been leaking in the hallways.

Una shouldn’t be trapped in the hallways.

She wasn’t alone – five other Enterprise crewmembers were trapped in this particular hallway with her.

They had been trapped here when the containment walls had sealed off several levels because of a hull breach.

Multiple systems had been damaged. The hull breach had to be contained. They were in no immediate danger.

But.

Captain Pike had been closer to the hull breach when it had occurred, had been trying to prevent it, in fact. When the weakness in the Enterprise’s hull had widened into a breech, Pike had been injured, and was currently in sickbay. With the captain incapacitated and the first officer trapped, Spock was effectively in charge. And Spock was engaging in the logical course of action: fix the immediate threat, get the crew members trapped but unharmed out of containment next, provided efforts weren’t needed elsewhere to fix the damaged systems. Like the artificial gravity.

Hours later, Una found Spock waiting as the doors were pried open. “Shall we go see the Captain?” he asked, one eyebrow raised.

He was asking her permission for a course of action that wasn’t logical. The captain was fine – the doctor would’ve told them if he was not. There were still systems to fix (though, thankfully, the gravity was back, the water had stopped leaking and had been reabsorbed into the proper locations) and, well, they were both exhausted.

But.

“Let’s go,” she said, falling into step next to him.

Chris was not awake. The doctor had given him something to go to sleep, saying he needed to rest. “The captain allowed that?” asked Spock.

“I didn’t ask,” replied the doctor.

“Fair enough,” said Una.

The doctor left them standing together, looking down at their captain, watching him sleep.

Spock spoke first. “The damage we sustained will force us to return to Federation space for supplies.” The doctor had assured them that the captain was not going to wake up even if they spontaneously started a mariachi band right next to his bed.

“I am also disappointed,” Una replied.

“It shouldn’t take long,” said Spock.

“We will make sure of that,” replied Una.

“He should not be in charge of repairing hull breaches,” said Spock.

“He outranks us,” said Una.

“We shall have to be more persuasive in the future.”

“It would’ve helped if we’d had more time.” The breech had happened so quickly – in fact, Pike had already been in the area when it had occurred. He had been with her, in one of the conference rooms, and she had him pined against bulkhead when alarms had started blaring. He had sent her in one direction, and gone another.

“You should get some rest, Commander,” said Spock.

“Mmmm,” said Una.

Neither one of them got any rest until Pike woke up and ordered them to bed.

By that time, Una was so desperate to kiss him she almost dragged him to her quarters with her.

But she couldn’t, they weren’t exactly alone. The sickbay was crowded, the hallways they would pass through were crowded. Everyone was still trying to fix the ship.

She would have to wait.

She was so tired she fell asleep without thinking about it too much.

She awoke with a start. There was nothing to signify what had woken her. No alarms were blazing, the gravity was still on, and she was alone. She had no idea if she had been asleep one hour or twenty. She checked the time, but that didn’t really help, because she didn’t know what time she had gone to bed.

“Computer, what time was Captain Pike discharged from sickbay?”

“Oh one hundred hours,” was the response.

So she had been asleep approximately eight hours. She immediately checked the status reports, to see how the repairs were coming, and noticed that the Enterprise was in good enough shape to have begun the trek back to Federation space.

“Computer, what is the location of Captain Pike?”

“Main cafeteria.”

Una sighed. Of course he would be there. He would want as many people to see him as possible, so they could confirm for themselves that their captain was in one piece. There were many reasons he was an excellent captain. And, well, she was rather hungry.

She clocked him immediately upon entering the cafeteria, he was the center of attention. She went to get a rather large breakfast, watching various crewmembers come and talk to him before making way for someone else. Spock was sitting with him. That made Una’s heart hurt a bit, Spock wasn’t one to be at the center of the type of attention Pike was currently receiving. He must not want to let the captain get too far away. Una most certainly understood the feeling.

Pike gave her a grin as she sat down, his eyes lighting up. The traffic around them lightened for a moment, but soon returned.

Una enjoyed her breakfast, watching captain and crew interact. She ached to touch him, but now was not the time. Others needed him more. She could wait.

The meal completed, Spock and Una escorted the captain on his way to the bridge. When an empty turbo lift arrived, Spock suddenly remembered he was needed in engineering, abruptly leaving his captain and first officer alone in the lift. After the doors had closed and the lift started to move, Pike hit the button that would halt them at their current location, guaranteeing privacy. Una stepped in front of him and planted a kiss on his lips, which he returned hungrily.

“Remind me to thank Spock later,” Chris mumbled into her mouth.

“Mmmm,” said Una, pulling him closer. 

14\. ‘I don’t have the words right now so here’s a kiss’

Their mission was often like this: leaving them so tired they didn’t have the energy to move, or complain, or do anything but lay wrapped in one another’s arms, too tired to even fall asleep easily.

It wasn’t a bad tired, not really, but when you’re on your own far outside Federation space, and you accidentally stumble upon interstellar trade shenanigans between two species you didn’t know existed two days ago, and a third you found out about just yesterday, and apparently all these interactions had to involved proper worship of all the old gods and the new, and you had to figure all of this out very quickly so you didn’t die, cause an interstellar war, or both, could leave you on the cold, hard side of very exhausted.

When Chris moved to place a gentle kiss on her temple, she didn’t even have the energy to wonder where he found the energy to do such a thing. She just fell asleep.

15\. A kiss because I have literally been watching you all night and I can’t take anymore

The thing was, they weren’t supposed to be on the night shift.

They were supposed to be doing other things.

They had, in fact, been doing other things when “Captain to the bridge” had blared over the intercom.

Chris had mumbled something that sounded suspiciously like “ _Fuck_ ” into her mouth.

To which she had responded, “Well, that had been the idea.”

He had started laughing, and had still been doing so to himself as he slipped out the door.

Una put on something more appropriate for the bridge and followed him.

So had begun a long, boring evening of trying to figure out what that signal was and if it was important.

Which left Una with far too much time to think about other things.

“Is it red?” Chris had asked.

After a confused beat of silence, the poor officer had responded, “I… don’t think it has a color, Captain.”

“Hmm,” Chris had said, frowning.

Una bit her lip, trying not to smile. It would have been too fond.

Surprisingly, she saw what appeared to be Spock also trying to hide a fond smile.

They were all really very tired.

Towards morning, with the strange, colorless signal not making any more sense than it had when it first caught the notice of the Enterprise’s crew, Pike had called a halt to the proceedings for anyone who had been up too long, leaving it to those who weren’t sleep deprived.

When they returned to his quarters, Chris didn’t even turn the lights on, he just began to fumble with undoing his collar. “What I wanted to say was-“

Una didn’t let him finish, taking a fistful of uniform and pulling his lips to hers. The kiss was hard and desperate at first, before trailing off into light, gentle kisses, as Chris ran his hands through her hair.

16\. Teasing kisses on every bit of visible skin

Una lay with her head on his chest, going over the day’s reports, as they relaxed in his bed. “Engineering reports that too much power is being drained in section 4. They think there’s a loose wire that needs repaired.”

Chris made a soft grunt of acknowledgement. He was reading a book. “Chris.”

“If you insist on reading those at this time of night, I would appreciate if at least you would not read them to _me_.” He didn’t take his eyes off his book.

As much as Chris loved his ship, he also didn’t want to constantly, consciously worry about it, and so put limits on how much time he should actually spend looking through every single aspect of what was going on. Una simply liked to know everything that was going on. She still got the feeling, that even though he spent less time looking through this type of information than she did, he still knew more than her about the inner workings of his ship. Not much slipped his notice. He didn’t need official reports to tell him what was going on.

Una had stopped reading the reports to watch him read, which she had to admit was far more interesting. His stared intently, his eyes moving across the page, and he was relaxed, letting himself slip into the story.

Una adjusted her position so she could no longer watch him read, but gave her better access to the skin on his neck. She placed soft, feather light kisses down his neck, moving his shirt out of the way to reach the skin on his shoulder. When Chris moved to put the book down, she mumbled “Don’t” into his skin. She wanted to shower him with attention, light, gentle kisses, and she wanted to see how long she could do it for, before he broke.

17\. Hungry kisses on every bit of newly visible skin as clothing is slowly peeled away

Una moved from his shoulder to his waist, moving his shirt up and his pants down, exposing his skin as she pressed light kisses there. She alternatively move his shirt up and pants down slowly, changing direction randomly, her kisses and touch light.

Chris wasn’t paying any attention to his book.

She took it away from him, placing it on the bed next to them, and worked his shirt off over his head, placing kisses all the way up to his neck and back. She heard him whisper, “Una, please,” and she lifted her eyes to his, mouth still on him, smirking. She knew what he wanted. She moved her mouth to his, deep, hard kisses in contrast to the feather-light ones she had been planting over his body. She pulled away, hearing him whine in protest. She smiled at him, then reached to his side, picking up his book, and handing it back to him.

She went back to work on removing his pants.

18\. Kisses because I missed you and you really shouldn’t stay away so long

Her breath caught in her throat, Chris’s tongue demanding, as he hauled her into his embrace. Panting after several minutes of this attention, Una raised an eyebrow at him. “I’ve been gone an hour.” 

Chris gave her one of his incredibly pleased smiles, soft and fond. “Too long. I’ve been thinking about you that entire hour.”

“Oh?” Una said softly, the word barely audible.

“Would you like me to show you?” Chris asked.

19\. Kisses because I don’t want you to go and maybe I can convince you to stay just a few minutes longer

When she turned to exit the bathroom, she found Chris there, blocking her path. These weren’t their usual roles: normally he was the one trying to leave, insisting he had to be some place, that he was late for a meeting, that it was his ship, and she would respond, “it’s your ship,” a reminder that he could be late, that he could change the time if he wanted to. He wouldn’t do so, it was disrespectful to his officers and their time, and Chris was nothing if not respectful. But a few last stolen kisses wouldn’t hurt.

Now here he was, blocking her path before she had to go in front of Starfleet and lie about Discovery. She put out a hand, to cup his face, to run her fingers along his jaw line. He didn’t move for a moment, letting her touch him, quiet and still, watching.

When she parted her lips slightly, using her tongue to worry at the bottom lip, his serious expression soften, and the light she had seen too rarely in his eyes lately returned. He wasn’t quite smiling, but he was most definitely pleased with her.

She tried then to move past him, to face what she needed to, for his sake, for all their sakes. He caught her wrist, stopping her, not trapping her but a simple, gentle, request: wait.

He kissed her then, slow and caressing, one hand still wrapped around her wrist, the other playing lightly with her hair. She brought her free hand up, to press her thumb on his bottom lip, pushing him away slightly. He wasn’t smiling, but there was laughter in his eyes. “One more kiss,” he said, touching her thumb with his tongue. She had no wish to refuse.

20\. Kisses because everything hurts right now including being loved by you but you’re also the only thing that makes it feel better

Once they got to the room Una started laughing. It wasn’t really funny, but she didn’t know how else to respond. After all they had just been through, exploring an M class planet with no sentient life forms that had nevertheless found themselves running for their lives from large quadrupeds that reminder her of Earth’s dinosaurs, only to be suddenly kidnapped by an unknown alien race who insisted on ‘saving’ them, to trying to talk them into letting them return to Enterprise, to finally returning to Enterprise only to immediately have to go back to the alien ship due to politics so complicated they made Vulcan ceremonies seem plain, to this: being told that, no, they cannot return to their ship without causing a major incident, but they were Honored Guests (Una thought ‘political prisoners’ was a more accurate description) who deserved special treatment…

…which apparently meant this, a single, small room with a single, small bed, for the both of them.

Chris brushed passed her to spread himself out on the bed, which he was too long for. He looked up at her, all innocence. “I don’t know where you’re going to sleep.”

Una stopped laughing and narrowed her eyes. “You think you can hold that bed against me?”

Chris, the innocent expression never leaving his face: “I know I cannot. But I am also know I am going to enjoy the experience of you removing me from it.”

A short time later, Una had wrestled him to the floor, which was scarcely a bigger space than the bed. “ _Oof_ ,” he said, his body going ridged with pain. Una cursed herself – how could she have forgotten? He had several bruises and cuts along his back from when he had landed on it awkwardly while trying to fight off a quadruped, and even though that was a few days ago they hadn’t had any time to go to sick bay to have it fixed. Their alien captors apparently had no knowledge of basic medical care. Una immediately moved to get herself off of him.

He held her in place, then pulled her close, pressing kisses to her lips. “I just want… to hold you… I don’t _care_ how much it hurts.” Una did her best to brace herself, to not let too much of her weight fall on the wrong places, but so many places were currently sore for both of them that it was impossible. Chris kept begging for more kisses, though, and she didn’t have the strength nor the will to refuse.


End file.
